


A Pinch of Sugar

by Mersheeple



Series: Everything Nice [1]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-11
Updated: 2020-07-29
Packaged: 2021-03-04 20:02:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 11
Words: 4,943
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25202131
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mersheeple/pseuds/Mersheeple
Summary: A collection of sweet short stories based on prompts that are (mostly) HGSS.
Relationships: Hermione Granger/Severus Snape
Series: Everything Nice [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1825720
Comments: 58
Kudos: 70





	1. Self-deception

**Author's Note:**

  * For [NaomiJameston](https://archiveofourown.org/users/NaomiJameston/gifts).



> I blame NJ!
> 
> I was given a MASSIVE list of prompts and this is what I have decided to do with it. This "story" (and its E-rated counterpart...coming soon...) will actually be individual stories per chapter. They are longer than drabbles and will update as and when I finish a chapter...lol...sometimes that will mean multiple in one day. Other times there will be nothing for a week or more at a time...
> 
> Thank you to everyone who subscribes and comments and offers kudos...LOVE YOU ALL

She didn’t care. She really didn’t care. Harry was safe and happy. That was all that mattered. Her parents were lost to her forever, Ron had left her for someone else, she was never going to find anyone to care for her because of the hideous scars left from fighting a war that had taken everything from her and she was the only one of her friends going back to Hogwarts for a repeat of her final year but she didn’t care.

The only other students who had come back to Hogwarts as missing Eighth years were Slytherins. Pansy Parkinson, Draco Malfoy, Blaise Zabini. That was it. She had spoken to Neville and been told that he was taking his NEWTs at the Ministry so that he could start an Apprenticeship after Christmas. No one had offered her an Apprenticeship. But she didn’t care. She was going to study and take her NEWTs and stop worrying about the future. She didn’t care.

She had passed all her exams. No one expected anything less of course. She had 10 Outstanding Grade NEWTs. No one congratulated her. She didn’t care. She was proud of her results. No one offered her an Apprenticeship. She didn’t care about that.

Harry and Ginny were getting married. Ginny asked Luna Lovegood and Hannah Abbot to be her bridesmaids. Hermione didn’t care. She didn’t like the green dresses anyway. Ron was Harry’s best man and Hermione was just a guest. But she didn’t care.

She hadn’t heard from Harry or Ron since Ron announced that he was getting married. She hadn’t received an invite. She didn’t care. It was fine. They had grown up and left her behind. It was fine. She didn’t care.

Ron was married. Ginny and Harry were expecting their first baby and Ron had joked he wouldn’t be too far behind. She didn’t care. She had heard it from the Daily Prophet. She didn’t care.

She faded from the Wizarding World in England. She decided to try moving somewhere else. No one asked where she was going. She didn’t care.

She gained her Mastery independently. Still no one had offered her an Apprenticeship. She didn’t care. She honestly did not care. She heard through the grapevine that Harry and Ginny had three children. Ron and his wife had two. She didn’t care.

Minerva wrote and asked her if she wanted a job at Hogwarts, putting her Mastery in Arithmancy to use. She didn’t really care where she was so she agreed. No one was at the Portkey Office to greet her. She didn’t care.

No one was there to greet her when she got to the gates of Hogwarts. She didn’t care. She knew her way anyway. She walked to the Entrance Hall. There was no one there either. But of course, she didn’t care.

She walked to the Headmistresses Office but she didn’t know the password. She sat on the floor, talking quietly to herself, trying to come up with what the password might be. She didn’t care that no one had bothered to tell her. She didn’t care.

She heard the stairs move but she couldn’t remember what she had said that could have been the password. It didn’t matter. She didn’t care. She would ask Minerva once she had spoken to her. She walked up the stairs in a strange blank state, taking a breath at the top to fix a smile on her face. She knocked on the door, wondering briefly if this might be a mistake. The door swung open and she stepped into the office in silence.

Everyone was there. Harry, Ginny, Ron, his wife, all their children (three redheads and two brunettes), Minerva…they had all come to greet her, smiling happily as Harry moved swiftly to embrace her, shushing her as the tears fell when she felt Ron join them, the Golden Trio reunited once more.

She couldn’t stop crying but for the first time in her life…she really didn’t care.


	2. Manipulation

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I needed something a little bit different after I just wrote a very dark piece that I am not sure I want to post...
> 
> So have a slightly fluffy piece...sort of...

“Miss Granger, I need your help.”

“Miss Granger, could I ask you a favour?”

“Miss Granger, would you mind awfully covering my class for me tomorrow?”

“Miss Granger, could you do some of this marking for me?”

She hated it when he started a sentence with ‘Miss Granger’. He always ended it with a request that meant he spent less time having to deal with dunderheads and she spent less time studying. Severus Snape was a complete pain in her arse, a thorn in her side. It had started when she had come back for her final year and, now that she was heading into her exam period, she had hoped it would stop.

“Miss Granger, could you cover my First Year detentions tonight? I’ve double booked and the Sixth Years need a Professor to supervise them.”

“Miss Granger, would you be able to help me prepare these ingredients for classes next week?”

“Miss Granger, could you mark these essays for me?”

It was driving her crazy. She would be glad when school was over and she went to…well, wherever she went it had to be better than here. She would never have to see him again. She would never have to smell the way the scent of herbs clung to his clothing. She would never have to listen to his sarcastic quips about the intelligence of the lower years. She would never have to listen to him drawl at her again.

She would never be able to forget him of course. He had made her school life hell. Well, not the last year of course. It had been frustrating until she realised that all the things he was asking her to do just proved that he did actually respect her. He would never ask someone he did not respect to mark his essays. Or help prepare ingredients. Or supervise detention. In all honesty, he would never ask anyone else to help him. Just her.

Her exams were almost over and then she would never have to help him again. Never hear him call her ‘Miss Granger’ in that particular way of his that made the hairs on the back of her neck stand up. Never hear him say thank you when she was only half listening. Never hear him talk about her with any of the other Professors.

“Miss Granger? I was wondering if I might have a moment.” He stood outside the Great Hall at the end of her final exam and she nodded silently. He turned and preceded her to the dungeons, still silent, still stoic, his robes billowing around his ankles, frock coat clinging to the curve of his waist as he turned to look at her as he leaned against his desk.

“Yes, Professor Snape. What can I do for you?” She broke the silence, ready to do one last job for him.

“Miss Granger, this year you have been an exceptional help to me and I wanted to thank you and ask you one question.” The gratitude in his voice was genuine and she was surprised to hear it. She tilted her head to one side and gave him a half smile.

“What is the question, Professor Snape?”

“How would you like to be my Apprentice Miss…Hermione?” He used her name for the first time and she almost swallowed her tongue. Oh. Well. That was nice. His voice, her name…that was very nice indeed.

“Professor Snape, is that what I have been doing this year? Working towards becoming your Apprentice?” Everything slotted into place and he smirked at her, stepping towards her.

“Would you like that, Hermione?”


	3. Overbearing

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Some would say he was overbearing. He was almost proud of that fact, even if it made him a judgemental so and so...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Nope...I don't know...not a clue...I have no idea what happened here.
> 
> I made myself laugh, even if no one else does...

He liked to stand and stare down at her. It made him feel strong and powerful. He liked to sit as high as he could, glaring down at her with a smug smile on his lips.

He had tried on numerous occasions to do the same to her friend. It was more difficult. He had only managed it twice. Her friend was just too…strong willed to actually care who was taller. It probably came from there not being many people here that were taller than him. Still, sometimes it was fun to stand in places he wasn’t expecting. That was fun too.

He had become very adept at finding places to hide and surprise his little witch. Or her taller friend. Especially on the nights when the friend would forget to leave at a decent time and would spend the night lying beside his witch, directly in his spot. He had tried to stop it happening but his little witch seemed to like when her friend took his place.

That’s when he learned a new trick. A trick that her friend had taught him without meaning to. It was perfect and it annoyed them both so very much. It even annoyed the rest of the castle’s occupants.

To appear out of nowhere, striding out from one of various hiding places. Especially if he was walking down the hallways. He liked to hide behind the suits of armour and stalk out slowly.

It.

Is.

I.

Crookshanks.


	4. Deluded

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> An SSHG from someone else's perspective

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This came from somewhere very silly and...it stayed there so I hope you enjoy this one!
> 
> <3

After the War, Ron had kissed Hermione and held her hand and had plenty of time to spend with her. When he wasn’t grieving with his family of course. They had lost Fred. Charlie and Percy had been injured and had needed lots of care and attention and Ron had stayed home.

When he wasn’t trying out for Quidditch teams of course. He was good, he knew he was, even if he wasn’t quite good enough for First Teams. He was good enough for second string. Definitely good enough for that. Only, no one else could see it. Until he helped out with the Chudley Cannons’ debt issues…then he was definitely good enough for second string.

So he spent time at home, and time training, and some time with the girls who were interested him because he was a War hero. But he spent time with Hermione.

Until she decided to go back to Hogwarts. She was the only one of the three of them that thought that school was important. So then _she_ had left _him_ and gone to study.

He still spent the weekends with her. Well, some weekends. When there were no matches. Or he wasn’t busy with the guys. Or he wasn’t on a date with some other girl. Or with his family. Still, _she_ was the one who had decided that school was more important than him.

Then she had finished school and taken her exams and announced that she was going to have an Apprenticeship. With him. Snape. The great greasy bat of the dungeons. Harry was pleased for her. Ron thought she was barking mad, wanting to spend more time with the slimy git.

Ron still tried to spend time with her. When he wasn’t playing Quidditch. Or practising Quidditch. Or with his family. Or with the guys. Or with any of the groupies he could shag. But _she_ was the one that kept blowing him off to work with the slimeball.

She told him that it was over. That she wasn’t interested in being with him anymore when he couldn’t spend time with her. They fought. He told her that she would change her mind. He called her frigid. He told her that the slimeball would drop her when he realised she wasn’t going to…well, when she wasn’t going to do anything with him.

She slapped him. That was on her. The break up was on her. She would be back. He knew she would. She had loved him for years and when the hell would she find anything better than him anyway?

He had got some girl pregnant and his Dad had made him marry the bint. He didn’t even know her surname until the officiant said it. Belby. That couldn’t mean he was now related to Marcus Belby could it? That boy was an idiot. Worse, he was a Slytherin. No Weasley was going to be a Slytherin. He’d have to train the kid out of all their snaky sneaky ways. Then there was a chance that Hermione would be mad at him for getting the girl pregnant. He’d have to tell her it was a one time thing.

Apparently, a bloke can get more than one bird pregnant at a time. He couldn’t marry them all. He would have refused anyway. Might have dumped the Belby girl if he had realised that Romilda Vane was an option though. She was kinda fit, even with the weird liking of Amortentia filled sweets.

Harry must have been barking right? Hermione, his Mione, marrying the greasy git? Nah, she was having him on. It was a joke. Punishment for the pregnancy…pregnancies. There were four of them all told. Including the Belby woman. So…three that weren’t his wife. He was told he had to support them all. They were Weasleys after all.

How could ‘Mione be pregnant? She wouldn’t have sex. She was saving herself for him. She’d promised that. Told him that she wanted to wait til she was married to him. Not to that greasy git.

He was sitting in the park near The Burrow. It was his weekend with the kids. All of them. There was Hortense, Josie, Valerie, and Rosie, the five year olds from that weird year when he had found out he could have kids with more than one woman at a time. Then the two four year olds, Lena and Josiah, the kids he had with another two women when he checked it wasn’t a fluke.

Then there was the twins, Hugo and Marcus, the three year olds his wife had insisted on. She was up the duff again. Hoping for twins apparently.

Hermione had a four year old now, a boy named Elias. And apparently, she was pregnant again too.

But she was going to come back to him, wasn’t she? She always came back to him. She always would, wouldn’t she?


	5. Mechanization

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> She thought it was a good idea. He disagreed. Why was he ALWAYS right?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another prompt fic! LOL...
> 
> I am not a robot...I promise...

It had seemed like a good idea at the time. Combining the best of the manufacturing process with the best brewers in the Magical world. It had seemed like a fantastic idea.

Machines were better at guaranteeing a temperature, maintaining a rolling boil, counting stirs. In general, they were better at ninety per cent of all brewing processes. The one thing, it turned out, that they could _not_ do was stop a disaster.

A true Master of Potions could smell the moment a Potion went wrong. It was in the way the fumes curled, in the hint of wrong colour, in the sound the fire made. To a true genius of Potions, it was obvious. Perhaps that was how Severus Snape had known to get her out of the building. Immediately. If not sooner.

It was supposed to be a simple brew, a way to test the machines could work at bulk rates. Forgetfulness Potion. A first year brew that, in all honesty, had very little application except in the case of trauma victims.

Of course, there were plenty of those after the War and the treatment was simple; a directed Obliviate for the worst of the trauma victims and one drop per day of Forgetfulness Potion for those who wanted the memories to be less stark and traumatic. It was a potion they would be able to find many willing volunteers for. Hermione herself would have volunteered if it had come down to it.

The Lethe River Water had been correct. Severus had checked it himself before even allowing her to add it to the machine. The Valerian sprigs, too, he had taken from his own supply, sure of their quality. They left the potion for the pre-requisite time to brew and stew and bubble away. The other ingredients, Mistletoe Berries and Standard Ingredient, were waiting to be added after the stewing time.

They sat in companionable silence in the small staff room in the building that they had procured for their business, a joint venture in the creation of Potions and Charms, and drank tea together, nibbling away at cakes provided by the local bakery that morning.

He heard the noise first. A strange popping sound that seemed to be at the wrong pitch or something according to his finely tuned senses. He grabbed her hand, tugging her up and tucking her to one side of him, away from the machine.

“Hermione, we have to move. Something isn’t right. Outside, get outside now.” He was pushing at her as she stalled, looking over her shoulder at the machine in horror, the sounds now seeming wrong to her as well. Her senses may not have been as finely tuned as his but she was still aware something was wrong. The machine was rattling and rocking and the potion was fizzing and bubbling. She caught a glimpse of the colour of the potion and swore profusely, running for the doors and desperately dragging Severus with her.

They had barely cleared the threshold of the warehouse when the explosion happened, knocking them both to the floor and causing him to land on top of her, shielding her from the blast, taking the impact himself.

She whimpered beneath him and felt a slightly sticky liquid drip from his body to hers. He groaned and lifted his head, looking down at her. She rolled over underneath him, staring up at him, her lips parting as he smirked at her. He leaned down, his lips barely brushing hers as he murmured softly.

“I told you mechanical means were a bad idea. But then, I’m not sure any more why this might be a bad idea too…” He smirked at her, only giving her enough time to blink as he lowered his lips more firmly to hers and kissed her soundly.

Maybe the potion had worked because somehow, she had forgotten why this was a bad idea too.


	6. Comatose

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompt word: Comatose (warnings for sad)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Think I might be channelling NJ here...SORRY!

He lay on the bed like something from a fairy tale. His skin too pale, lips too red, eyes too still to be sleeping. His chest barely moved, breathing so slowly that one had to literally watch and count every breath. His pulse was so slow and his heartbeat so quiet in the nearly silent room that it took everything in her not to weep at the stillness.

They had been through this before, at the end of the War, when the venom of the snake had been burning through his veins and pouring into his organs. His skin had been clammy and then the seizures had begun and she had helped the Healers hold his limbs down. He had clipped her chin twice, fractured her nose once and somehow managed to kick her in her left breast before they had insisted on the restraints.

He had woken up after months in that state and she had smiled, leaving him alone because she knew he wouldn’t want her there. And for two weeks, he had not spoken to or seen anyone. And then he had asked who had visited him and was told, in no uncertain terms, that the only visitor he had ever received was her.

He asked them to call for her that same day. They’d been together ever since. Every day at least. Though it had taken her a year and a half to convince him that she wanted him and didn’t just feel pity.

They had been together for ten years when this had happened. He had got sick…and then sicker…and then sicker…and now he was here, for the third week in a row, lying in a hospital bed, barely hanging on. They wanted her to say goodbye but she knew she wasn’t ready, would never be ready.

She knew that wasn’t fair on him though. His face twisted in a rictus of pain and she knew that the traces of venom that had been in his system for so long now were about to cause the seizures that had been so familiar at the beginning. She summoned the ropes that would bind him and stop him from hurting himself or anyone else. She watched him thrash against the bindings and cried out with the imagined pain. She couldn’t do this anymore. It wasn’t fair on him.

She leaned down and kissed his lips softly before whispering to him as his breaths fell silent.

“Goodbye my love, goodnight and thank you.”


	7. Belief

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> She couldn't BELIEVE him...he couldn't believe she was so easy to wind up...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ha! I needed FLUFFY!!!

She remained resolute, steadfast, indiscriminate. She stood before him, her hair sparking and her eyes glittering in anger. He folded his arms and raised an eyebrow, pushing her buttons to see exactly what she would do, how she would react to his rather deliberate prodding.

“I am not going to ask again! If it comes to it, I will just take the ingredients I want.”

“You will do no such thing. Miss Granger, may I remind you that the Potions Laboratory is the purview of the Potions Master and therefore the only person who shall be using the ingredients therein are the people I deem worthy…” He trailed off as she poked him in the chest with a growl.

“Worthy? _Worthy??!_ Severus Snape you are a complete ARSE!” Her voice cracked with the anger and he couldn’t hold in his mirth any longer. He threw back his head and laughed at her, his laughter echoing around the Hallways. She glared at him before closing her eyes in frustration.

“I can’t believe you fell for it. Again. Hermione, really, you must know by now how I really feel about you. It has been five years, love.” He smiled at her and she finally calmed down enough to laugh along with him.

“I can’t believe you used the same trick again. It was the trick that made me realise I loved you, you know?” She wrapped her arms around his waist, leaning her head against his chest as he pressed a kiss into her hair. She turned her head as he nudged her face with something gently. Her eyes widened as she looked at the small velvet box with the simple silver coloured band with a subtle sapphire and diamond motif.

“I’m hoping it will be the trick that makes you agree to marry me…”


	8. Impulse

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It was the way he was...it was the way he had always been.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompt Word: Impulse

He stood on the precipice of the cliff, staring at the sea below. The wind whipped around him, ruffling his hair, and tugging at his frock coat. He closed his eyes, breathing in the scent of the sea and sighing softly. The place was beautiful, too beautiful and windswept for the likes of him. He stepped away from the cliff edge and vanished with a soft crack.

He stood on the top of the mountain, staring at snow covered peaks and frost covered tree tips. The wind picked up his hair and flicked it into his eyes, chilling his skin and making his lips tremble. He took a breath and was reminded once again of the Scottish Highlands. It was too much like home, too safe. He shook his head and stepped away, apparating with a whisper that got stolen by the wind.

He stood on the top of the Astronomy Tower, watching over and over again as the memory version of Albus Dumbledore disappeared off the top of the tower, again and again and again. He watched with horror as the body landed, a view he had never seen but could still hear in his head. The wind was silent, the wards of Hogwarts silencing them and he missed the noise, the rush, the movement.

“Severus?” He hadn’t heard her approach but her voice broke through his reverie and he turned to look at her.

“You can’t just disappear to the highest point you can think of every time I want to tell you something love. You need to curb that impulse love. You need to stop running away.”

“I always come back though. I’ll always come back to you. It’s the one impulse I can’t control.”


	9. Eagerness

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> She wanted everything. RIGHT NOW.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> SNADDY!!!
> 
> This one is with love to all my Snaddy fans!

She wanted to go to the park. She wanted to play on the swings. She wanted to play on the roundabout and the see-saw and the slide. She wanted to go to the park. Right now.

She wanted to go to the toy shop. She wanted a doll. She wanted a teddy bear. She wanted a shiny ball and a barbie and a toy dog and… She wanted to go to the toy shop. Right now.

She wanted to go to the sweet shop. She wanted sweeties. She wanted cakes. She wanted chocolate. She wanted yummy things. She wanted to go to the sweet shop. Right now.

She wanted to go to Hogwarts. She wanted to learn all about Potions and Charms and Defence Against the Dark Arts. She wanted to see the Astronomy Tower and the Great Hall and the Dungeons. She wanted to go to Hogwarts. Right now.

She wanted to go to the Ministry of Magic. She wanted to see her Mummy working. She wanted to hear Uncle Harry and Uncle Ron interviewing the bad guys. She wanted to go to the Ministry of Magic. Right now.

She wanted to go to Weasley’s Wizarding Wheezes. She wanted to see the love potions and the Umbridge dolls. She wanted to see the biting teacups and the Skiving Snack Boxes. She wanted to go to Weasley’s Wizarding Wheezes. Right now.

She wanted her Daddy. He was right there but he looked so tired. She reached out to him and smiled, babbling away about all the places she was eager to go to when she was big enough. And then Daddy picked her up and she gurgled and smiled at him.

“That’s my beautiful girl. What shall we do today hmm?” And she decided that today, she would do whatever he wanted as long as he kept smiling at her. She could do everything else another day. Right now was for him.


	10. Sweat

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> An actual DRABBLE! :o

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A 100 word drabble? From me?
> 
> No, I don't know how either! LOL

He could feel the sweat rolling down his back, pooling in the base of his spine as he lay still, confined to the bed as he was. His skin prickled as he felt cooling charms running over his body. His chest and throat burned as he tried to swallow so that he could talk, make himself heard and understood.

His limbs began to shake and the agony of the seizure only made the sweating worse. Everything felt so unbearable and he wondered if, perhaps, finally his body was giving out on him.

“Severus, it’s just the flu, you’re not dying.”


	11. Renewal

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Twenty five years have passed and now they are here...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompt word for my 75th update this month...Renewal!
> 
> (That's 75 chapters and/or one shots in the month of July 2020...)

They had been through this before, in secret of course, right before his trial concluded but, strangely, right after the Wizengamot passed a law that ‘no married person’s may be separated from their spouse in the first year of marriage, or three years if a child is conceived in this time’. There was no question of conception of course, but a year gave her time to build up his case and fight against the injustice of convicting him.

Severus Snape was released to her custody. She had volunteered for the role and then, when that hadn’t worked, she had married the curmudgeonly bastard and told them that, as his family, she was quite capable of controlling him.

Of course, it hadn’t quite turned out that way. He had fought her tooth and nail, practically kicking and screaming his way out of the courts as he was sent to her home, his magic dampened and his wand confiscated. He had hated her in that moment.

Once back at her rather modest apartment, he had complained about her lack of second bedroom and she had smirked, telling him that they were married and she would sleep beside her husband if he so badly wanted a bed. Or that he could always take the couch. Either would be more comfortable than the bunk he would have had to sleep in if he had gone to Azkaban.

She smiled to herself now, looking at her husband through older eyes. Their first time together had resulted in many more nights sharing a bed. She had kept him from prison through the use of the legal arguments, rather than the use of her body. Conceiving a child while fighting for his right to live in the world was not on their agenda.

Their first child had been born two days after their third wedding anniversary. Ephraim David Snape had been small at birth but had rapidly grown and dwarfed his mother not long after he entered Hogwarts.

Their second child had been born six months before their eighth wedding anniversary, a happy surprise. A bad batch of contraceptive potion, brewed with a bad ingredient. Aria Minerva Snape came into the world with her Father’s scowl and never really lost it. She was pretty and petite and well loved by everyone. But the scowl remained whenever anyone looked at her funny.

Then they had started a new business, brewing Potions and creating Charms, and had never got round to replacing their wedding photos. And so, here they were twenty five years on, both a little older, both a little wiser, both a little stronger.

Hermione looked down at the simple cream swing dress she was wearing, the lace top covering her shoulders and her arms, the rose on her hip a pretty silver that would match her bridesmaid and her husband’s suit. She picked up her bouquet closing her eyes and breathing in their scent as the door opened.

“Ready Mum?” She smiled, nodding at her handsome son and taking his arm as she headed to walk down the aisle for the renewal of their vows.


End file.
